Doorey, N. A. (2012). Coming Soon: A New Generation of Assessments. Educational Leadership, 70(4), 28-34.
Summary: When Common Core Standards were adopted by most states, beginning in 2009, many voices became louder where assessments, and their inability to effectively measure skills, knowledge and the necessary accoutrements for career and education success in the 21st century were simply called inadequate and too narrowly focused. Doorey gives us a glimpse into the 2 new assessment models that will be available to replace outdated state assessments, beginning in 2014, starting with the 39 consortia governing states (plus D.C.), as part of No Child Left Behind.
Part of what makes these assessments exciting is that they are to be taken exclusively digitally, and results can be returned in as little as 2 weeks, making the focus less about the testing, and more about learning, while still holding the school, educator and curriculum accountable.
Also, electronic information searching, finding credible sources, effective writing and complex reading will all be featured. The assessments will be much more involved, in multiple parts, to help test multiple intelligences and gauge the critical thinking skills of the students that can be applied to real world sitations. There will be more testing of the process, rather than the regurgitation of facts. I believe this has great implications, particularly for E.L.L. students and those with learning disabilities, who constantly test below their actual skill level with the current assessments due to the narrow scope.
"Accordingly, teachers and students
should expect to see more challenging
reading materials on these assessments
and more complex, real-world tasks in
addition to the more traditional selected response
and short-answer questions"(Doorey, 2012)
No comments:
Post a Comment